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Art Texts Pics is an online magazine published both in Italian and in English. Established in 2010, Art Texts Pics contains interviews, conversations, essays, exhibition previews and event agendas. The magazine covers both well known, institutional realities – such as museum exhibitions, established galleries and foundations – and alternative, young spaces.

DAMA, the curated fair – Interview with Giorgio Galotti

"DAMA is reasoning backwards, recovering the intimacy of the relationships and the time to evaluate the research of an artist in correspondence to the space, in a setting without the footlights, to engage a deep dialogue with the interlocutor."

DAMA is an independent project which takes place in an antique palace in the center of Turin. Inspired on Le citta? invisibili (Invisible cities), a novel written by Italo Calvino and published in 1972, the aim of this project is to repopulate the center of the old city, giving back to the ancient places in Turin, a certain intimacy by installing a show where artworks can be presented by galleries. Arranged within a warm atmosphere, the purpose of the project is to get rid of the sterile white cubes, which characterize the ordinary galleries, museums and art fairs, offering a more intimate relationship with the venue, simulating, therefore, collectors’ private apartments. The kick off edition will be held at Palazzo Saluzzo di Paesana, one of the most prestigious palace in Turin, realized by Gian Giacomo Plantery in 1722 – on 560 sqm, where will be presented international artists showcased by 8-9 galleries coming from different countries.

DAMA will be held from Wednesday the 2nd of November (opening reception) until Sunday the 6th of November. During these days a live program of performances and talks will be hosted into the palace.

Interview with Giorgio Galotti, the project creator.

ATP: Described as ” Curated Fair “, DAMA is one of the latest news of the Turin art week. Can you explain why it was defined in this way?

Giorgio Galotti: I think because it won’t be developed into those empty and immaculate booths, and because of the continuous gallery-artist-curator dialogue behind the project, as well as because of it’s aim to produce new works to be included into historical spaces, for these reason I believe that the process is more elaborated.

ATP:What are the reasons and needs that have led you to promote this kind of initiative?

GG: It has been developed naturally together with some galleries, sharing similar ideas and suggestions.Our generation of “gallerists” is going through a complex situation that many fair organizations are not able to understand due to different reasons, one of these is because today’s international trade fairs are set to very strict criteria, complex bureaucracy and high management costs. Many galleries and collectors are seeking a more intimate approach, getting virtually in contacts throughout the year and often, all meetings, end up in exhibition centres, in a shallow and quick way according to what circumstances require.

ATP: The kick off edition is expected during the week of Artissima. Do you have any relationship or, on the opposite, has divergence arisen between you and the main trade fair?

GG: We have been involving Artissima’s management since the beginning, dialoguing with them, firstly because I attended the fair and didn’t want to separate from it, and on the other hand, to increase its potential and expand its contents. This project aims to further highlight the importance of this period for the territory. Early November in Turin not only means the art week, but also Club to Club festival, truffles and a trips to the Langhe. All these are achievements that helped this city to become ‘International’. This is the reason of why the 90% of DAMA’s participants are coming from abroad.

ATP: The venue is among the most prestigious in Turin: Palazzo Saluzzo Paesana. How did you find this location and what is its potential related to DAMA?

GG: When we first tought about the project, we started from the history of the city and wondered how we would like to see its center in the future. The principle of “Palace” itself, has been abandoned to guarantee the growth of the suburbs with malls, sports stadiums, multiplexes, recovering industrial buildings or constructing new areas. The history of many italian cities, especially postindustrial centres such as Turin, had shared the principle of evolution with the concept of gentrification, voiding historical places in the center. For instance, wiithout going too much back in time, ‘Palazzo delle Esposizioni’ made by Pierluigi Nervi and Ettore Sottsass, is an example. With DAMA we would like to re-start from the center and to extend its potential towards the future. Hence, we started visiting ancient buildings. The choice then fell on Palazzo Saluzzo Paesana for its history, for the beauty of the rooms decorated with 1700 Domenico Guidobono’s frescoes, and for its location, adjacent to Piazza Savoia, where stands a symbol of Piedmont’s pride. In fact, in the square, under the obelisk, the Town Hall buried a crate containing: two issues of ‘Giornale del Popolo’ printed in 1850 with articles regarding the construction of the obelisk itself, valuable coins, a kilo of rice, a bottle of Barbera wine and breadsticks made in Turin.

ATP: What criteria did you apply to engage Domenico De Chirico and Lorenzo Balbi? What roles do they have?

GG: The starting point was my personal relationship with them and an open dialogue. Domenico is a curator who is finding his own professional path, working tirelessly. If dozens of international galleries realied on him recently, it’s because he is extremely sensitive to gallery’s problems and artists requests. He plays his role with humility and studying continuosly, knowing what ‘being a curator’ means today. Every curator should know how to interpret a generation, evaluating an historical moment, having a vision and the curiosity to explore new languages. I believe he is doing it. Regarding Lorenzo, I was interested to see how he would have used his long training as curator of the ‘Young Curators’ program at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo. Lorenzo normally passes 6 months per year visiting artists’ studios, talking to curators and galleries. At least 90% of Italian artists met him once in their studios. He manages to do what few can do: talking with artists, understanding their needs and to liaise with emerging curators.

ATP: I know you prefer not to call it ‘fair’, but undoutebdly a project like this has a commercial approach. What are the obstacles that prevent DAMA to be defined as a ‘fair’?

GG: “Gathering of street vendors and buyers, in the past agricultural products and livestock, taking place regularly once per year on the occasion of festivities and celebrations; also, town festival folk; Fig. Confusion, bedlam”. This is the first definition offered by the italian dictionary to explain the word ‘fair’; applying this to the nobility where an artistic practice comes from, is disheartening. The fair is an intensive and deliberately confusing moment, often constructive but very stressful. DAMA is reasoning backwards, recovering the intimacy of the relationships and the time to evaluate the research of an artist in correspondence to the space, in a setting without the footlights, to engage a deep dialogue with the interlocutor. People may think that, this kind of approach is totally anachronistic, since the word ‘Future’ has always pursued the principle of speed, even among relationships. But nowaday, I’m not sure wether or not this approach has given a good imprint to things. Today, many people are escaping from urban centers to return to cultivate fields in order to secure a healthier life, we are trying to get back in those palaces with the purpose of recovering a dialogue, with the right timing.